Renovatio Records: April 2023

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Alien: Resurrection

Alien: Resurrection (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by John Frizzell

We have another surprise for this Alien Day! To complete the saga of Ellen Ripley, Renovatio Records presents you with the score for Alien: Resurrection by John Frizzell. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the 1997 sequel is set 200 years after Alien 3. Sigourney Weaver comes back as Ripley, who has been cloned by the United Systems Military (USM) with the purpose of removing the alien queen embryo from her body. As a result of this cloning process, Ripley has inherited some of the physical attributes and capabilities of the Xenomorphs, such as acid for blood. The USM plans to breed the aliens aboard the spaceship USM Auriga, using human beings (delivered by a group of mercenaries) as involuntary hosts. As expected, after maturing, the aliens eventually escape from their enclosures and start wreaking havoc across the ship. Ripley sees herself forming an alliance with the mercenaries to try to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches Earth. Little do they know that the alien queen has also absorbed some attributes from Ripley’s DNA, and is now able to develop a uterus and give birth to a new kind of monster. Secondary roles were played by Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, Dominique Pinon, J. E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, Kim Flowers, Gary Dourdan, and Michael Wincott.

Though the film generally received a bit more appreciation by fans and critics than its predecessor, Alien: Resurrection lacks in originality as it was conceived as a combination of the mystery of Ridley Scott’s original film with the action of James Cameron’s sequel. Thus, the film ended up recycling what by then had become a tired concept, resorting to forced scenarios for the sake of having new groups of humans being hunted and nastily killed by the Xenomorphs. The once mysterious and fascinating beast was brought down to nothing more than a two-dimensional killing monster, which is a bit of a letdown. However, the film is a lot of fun and has several things to appreciate. As its predecessor, it is wonderfully shot (courtesy of Seven’s cinematographer Darius Khondji), the set designs look amazing, and ADI Studios' animatronic special effects are outstanding. Thematically, the film is quite shallow, but it does explore the dangers of genetic engineering under greedy hands, functioning as a cautionary tale. In the future, humans have become so unsympathetic and primitive when striving for their goals that the only individuals showing genuine human emotions are manufactured people. Moreover, the best developed concept of Alien: Resurrection is the parallelism between the cloned Ripley and the android Call (Ryder), both characters being the result of human creation, and both struggling to find their purpose in life. Their relationship evolves from being flirtatious at first to nurturing by the end, with references to motherhood, birth and identity appearing from scene to scene, against a backdrop of religious undertones and sexual innuendos. The film aims at answering several intriguing questions concerning the identity crisis of these man-made individuals: Is Ripley a person, a construct, a monster? Why is Call the most humane character in spite of her not being a human? Why does the newborn creature that the alien queen gives birth to identify Ripley as its mother? All of these questions are indeed engaging and very well planted, but unfortunately, they are not clearly resolved, overshadowed by the quick pace of the film and many scenes that are borderline an assault on the senses. Nevertheless, Alien: Resurrection stands as a very distinctive entry in the Alien franchise, namely for its compelling visual style and for several memorable sequences: a gut-wrenching scene in which Ripley meets her former failed clones, a breath-taking underwater chase, the newborn’s horrific demise, and a scene in which Ripley is abducted and slowly carried by a Xenomorph through the dark that it is filmed in such a way that it looks like they are having sex... All of this enhanced by Frizzell's omnipresent score.

Back in the mid-nineties, composer John Frizzell was relatively unknown in the business, working mainly as an assistant for James Newton Howard. He auditioned to compose the score for Alien: Resurrection knowing that he would have big shoes to fill after Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, and Elliot Goldenthal. Director Jeunet heard Frizzell’s samples and the composer was brought on board, facing four arduous months of writing and recording the score. The director requested him that the music should have a unique approach that would differentiate it from the previous films in the franchise. To achieve this, Frizzell found inspiration in the sensual and erotic overtones of the film, leading him to create several themes and motifs for characters and situations. The main theme for the film is constituted by a set of ascending and descending string movements that accompany an ominous descending melody. This sensual theme is presented in the “Main Title” cue and it is recurrently used throughout the rest of the score, the melody itself working as a motif for the Xenomorphs. Ripley receives her own theme; a tragic melody in strings that appears in the superb cue “Post-op”, as the character wakes up, evoking a rebirth. The opening three notes of Ripley’s theme also serve to effectively accentuate the heroics performed by some of the characters in later parts of the score. Frizzell also provides Call with a theme of overlapping string notes that fittingly elicits her human-android duality; the most significant apparitions of this theme can be found in “Call Finds Ripley” and during “The Chapel”. All of these themes mature in instrumentation and rhythm as the movie progresses and the characters evolve, while the score showcases how well Frizzell uses electronic and synthesizer sound effects, blending them with the powerful 100-piece orchestra and supplemental choir. His idea was to merge the acoustic and the electronic to reflect the synthetic and the organic concepts of the film, respectively. One of the best examples of this blend is the opening part of “The Aliens Escape”, which features a prominent use of industrial percussive loops, accentuated by orchestral timpani hits and relentless string and brass phrases.

The action music provided by Frizzell also deserves attention. There are several action passages throughout the score, but “They Swim…”, in particular, is the pièce de résistance in this regard. This rousing and bombastic track, which allegedly took Frizzell a month to compose, underscores the nail-biting underwater sequence in which the group of humans is chased by two Xenomorphs through a flooded level of the Auriga. It provides many instances of harmonic and enjoyable rhythmic action that is as engaging as Horner's music for Aliens, but the most effective bit involves accelerating percussion hits over string crescendos and brass stings as one of the Xenomorphs calmly and effortly swims approaching to its victim, who desperately struggles to escape. This part alone is nerve-racking and will have you gasping for air. Overall, Frizzell's work for Alien: Resurrection offers plenty of characteristics to appreciate, from compelling motifs to rousing action, and even several nods to the previous three scores in the series. This assignment was Frizzell's big break into the industry, allowing him to develop a career in composing scores for horror and thriller productions.

Alien: Resurrection was released in 1997 by RCA Victor in the form of a rather short album that included about half of Frizzell's complete score. The album provides several of the major action highlights but is missing several standout cues mostly from the third act, namely the finale "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", a beautiful orchestral and choral track that rounds up the score and the film nicely when the survivors reach Earth for the first time in the franchise. Furthermore, the listening experience of this album is disrupted by the insertion of Handel's operatic source piece "Priva Son D'Ogni Conforto" from "Julius Caesar", which is totally out of place. As a result, bootlegs with the complete score quickly surfaced until La-La Land Records assembled a 2-CD limited release in 2010 that includes 86 minutes of Frizzell's finished score, as well as alternate takes, and the original album presentation. While totaling up to a generous 140 minutes of music, many listeners considered this presentation to be an overkill and quite repetitive. For these reasons, Renovatio Records has produced a new 52 minute album that includes most of the material already available in the original album presentation, but with longer versions of several tracks, plus most of the music for the third act that was left out of that album. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this Alien Day as it should: re-listening to all the scores from the Ripley saga!!!

Track listing:

1. Main Title (2:12)

2. Post-Op (1:22)

3. Docking The Betty (1:19)

4. Facehuggers (2:10)

5. After Hours On Deck (2:10)

6. Call Finds Ripley (2:59)

7. The Aliens Escape (4:47)

8. Elgyn's Death (3:35)

9. Ripley Meets Her Clones (2:48)

10. What's Inside Me? (2:48)

11. They Swim... (7:00)

12. The Chapel (3:18)

13. The Abduction (3:32)

14. Birth Of The Newborn (4:10)

15. The Battle With The Newborn (6:10)

16. I'm A Stranger Here Myself (1:54)

Total Running Time: 52:09

Download Alien: Resurrection by John Frizzell

Cover Artwork:

Alien 3

Alien 3 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music Composed and Orchestrated by Elliot Goldenthal

April 26th is Alien Day, and here at Renovatio Records we want to celebrate it big time with a new release: Elliot Goldenthal’s avant-garde neo-classical score for Alien 3.

The controversial 1992 movie was the directorial debut of David Fincher and saw Sigourney Weaver reprising Ellen Ripley, accompanied by a great supporting cast that included Charles Dance, Charles S. Dutton, Lance Henriksen, Ralph Brown, and Pete Postlethwaite. Set immediately after the events of Aliens, Ripley is the only survivor of an escape pod that jettisons from the Sulaco after an electrical fire. Unfortunately, the pod crashes on Fiorina 161, a prison planet in which violent male inmates reside. Moreover, unbeknown to her, a facehugger has made its way to the escape pod and now runs loose in the facility. The alien eventually infects an inmate’s dog and quickly a new Xenomorph spawns, which, as expected, starts killing the prison inhabitants in very gruesome ways. Soon after, Ripley realizes that she will have to face not only her longtime enemy once more, but also her worst nightmare as she herself is the host for another creature, a queen that may reproduce into thousands of the deadly alien species.

After the successful two previous entries, Alien 3 was regarded as a major letdown by both critics and fan bases with many calling it the worst film in the franchise. Fincher himself would eventually disown the movie, stating that studio interference was detrimental to the final quality of the product. However, though flawed and definitely inferior to its predecessors, the film still has its own merits and much to offer. For starters, the acting is phenomenal, with Weaver providing what may well be her best performance in the franchise. The art direction and cinematography are also top notch, with a predominant use of cameras placed close to ground and pointed up to emphasize the claustrophobic confines of the prison. And what’s more, one cannot help to appreciate the boldness of this film; in the first half an hour, a dog gets killed in a grisly manner, and Hicks and Newt, Ripley’s surrogate family from James Cameron’s Aliens, are killed off without hesitation. Decisions like these show that the sequel was not afraid to go against all possible expectations from the franchise fan base as well as horror film clichés, which makes it quite worthy of appreciation for its originality. It should also be noted that even with the studio interference, Alien 3 has many qualities of a David Fincher film; it is excellently shot, and it introduces the nihilist undertones that the director would continue to explore throughout his filmography. Alien 3’s themes deal namely with the inevitability of death, the perversities of man, the frailty of the human condition, and the dynamics of human power in isolated settings, all set against a backdrop of elements exploring religion, redemption and self-sacrifice. The Xenomorph itself is treated as both a bringer of death and as a plot device to suggest the inevitability of failure, suffering, and grieving, as all the attempts the inmates make to improve their precarious situations are quickly boycotted by the creature with devastating aftermaths. Room is also given to display how monstrous men can also be; there’s a gang rape attempt scene that it is as unsettling as any encounter with the alien. In short, Alien 3 is a film that can be greatly appreciated with a clear notion of who Fincher is as a filmmaker. It is visually striking as it is existentially suggestive, and moreover it infuses a genuine mood of fear, thanks greatly to its effective musical score.

At the time, Elliot Goldenthal had scored very few films, with perhaps Pet Sematary being his most recognizable effort. The score for Alien 3 would eventually become a groundbreaking entry for the composer, one that would help him get several important projects during the following decade. For this movie, Fincher and Goldenthal had extensive discussions about the approach to be taken, with the director being specific in wanting the music to work as an atmosphere that employed sound effects. The composer would then go on to create a musical world that effectively blends sound design with a classical orchestra in such ways that, when watching the film, it is difficult to discern if you are listening to the score or just plain sound effects. This approach allows the music to emerge unexpectedly, as if it were the alien itself bursting out of the shadows. With the film exploring themes related to faith and religion, Goldenthal introduces operatic and religious elements, namely a beautiful but haunting boy soprano that stands out during the “Main Title” cue, a track that perfectly encapsulates the mood of the film: a constant struggle between romanticism and chaos. Furthermore, the composer conjures up several themes and motifs. Ripley gets her own theme, in the form of a tormented yet catchy progression of five notes, first introduced in the latter half of “The Survivor is a Woman”. Her involvement with the prison doctor, Clemens (brilliantly played by Charles Dance), is treated with a tender theme for piano, strings and solo oboe, which can be found in “Ripley and Clemens Bond”, and during the first half of “It’s a Long Sad Story”. However, the standout theme of the score is Goldenthal’s theme for sacrifice, first hinted at in high-end strings during the end of “Lullaby Elegy”, and later explored during “The Cremation” and during the highlight of the whole score, “Adagio”. This theme is a simple set of four ascending chords, which are both romantic and dark. “Adagio” is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful creations of Goldenthal’s career. In this track, the composer finally provides an emotional payoff for Ripley’s theme, while also unleashing a full ensemble performance of the sacrifice theme, perfectly underscoring the ultimate self-sacrifice Ripley makes at the end. The track graciously ends with a climactic and victorious full orchestral progression of three-note descending phrases, as the aliens have been finally defeated, before deflating and closing the film with a lovely and distant solo trumpet as Ripley’s recorded last report from the Nostromo is overheard.

The music Goldenthal provides for the Xenomorph is also astonishing. The creature is fittingly represented with a series of unsettling yet memorable sound effects produced by the brass section of the orchestra. Distorted trombones, trumpets, and horns whale and whine, showcasing the composer’s expertise at experimenting and writing for brass, a trademark in his career. The best examples of the Xenomorph’s motifs can be found in “The First Attack”, “Candles in the Wind”, the second half of “It’s a Long Sad Story”, and during the final chase sequences in “Bait and Chase” and “The Entrapment”. Other standouts of the score include the second half of “Wreckage and Rape” and the finale in “The Entrapment”. In the former, Goldenthal provides a wild rock-inspired mayhem, consisting of howling, processed voices, percussion effects and electric guitar effects. This cue perfectly encompasses the rage of unleashed male libido as the inmates attempt to rape Ripley, and though it may be hard to sit through it for some listeners, one cannot help to appreciate Goldenthal’s musical diversity. “The Entrapment” concludes the relentless final chase sequence, with a burst of shimmering, cascading string lines, as Ripley pours gallons of water over the molten lead covered alien, causing it to explode. This short piece of musical writing exhibits Goldenthal's genius at film scoring, perfectly evoking the sense of falling water while cathartically providing resolution to the struggle against the alien.

The marriage of the classical orchestral power and Goldenthal’s avant-garde and groundbreaking sound experimentation is what certainly makes the score of Alien 3 a triumph. The music contained in it laid the groundwork for the composer’s defining sound of his entire career. Many of Goldenthal’s mannerisms saw their birth in this score, with several of its ideas being later employed across scores as varied as Sphere, Interview with the Vampire, Titus, Michael Collins, the Batman sequels and many more.

The score for Alien 3 was released in 1992 by MCA Records in the form of a 50-minute album presentation that had several cues fused together and out of chronological order. In 2018, La-La Land Records released a 2-CD complete album of the score, with 40 additional minutes of music. This new program put together by Renovatio Records presents the standout cues from the film in chronological order, which helps appreciate how effectively Goldenthal plays around with his orchestral motifs and distinctive sound designs, as the movie progresses.

We would also like to invite you to enjoy this year’s Alien Day by revisiting our previous releases for Alien by Jerry Goldsmith and Aliens by James Horner. It cannot be denied that this franchise has produced scores that were and continue to be major influences in the science fiction, horror and action genres.

Track listing: